Saudi Oil Minister Expects Oil Cuts To Extend Into 2019

Crude oil prices jumped a percent today on comments from Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said he expected the OPEC+ production cut deal would be extended into next year. Speaking to Reuters, Al-Falih said “We still have some time to go before we bring inventories down to the level we consider normal and we will identify that by mid-year when we meet in Vienna. And then we will hopefully by year-end identify the mechanism by which we will work in 2019.” Global oil stockpiles are down considerably from their bloated state two years ago, but this seems to not be enough for some participants in the deal, apparently. There have already been warnings—from the IEA, no less—that with Venezuela’s steady oil production decline, the market could even swing into a deficit before the year’s end—and that’s despite the booming shale oil production in the United States. It […]